What are the best tools that you can use to keep yourself motivated?

We all have a list of tasks (personal or work related) that we need to finish, but we often postpone them to give us a little more time and avoid the work that we really should be doing.

For example, I remember when I was a student, and the final exam date was approaching quickly, and there was no single spot in my room which wasn’t thoroughly cleaned. I was too lazy to start studying but at the same time I felt too guilty to do absolutely nothing. I looked for another task to do just so I could avoid starting the work that was really necessary at that time. Does this sound familiar to you?

Like most people, we deal with this problem all the time, and today we would like to share with you the best ways that we have found to overcome the problem of low motivation and putting of duties.

First things first

What needs to be done urgently in your life and what is really important for your life are often very different things.

In this age of constant distraction, our attention is often divided between what we should be doing and what society bombards us with. It is rare that we are truly fully engaged in the task at hand. Usually we are putting the fire out at the same time that we are trying to get important goals accomplished.

When Napoleon received letters, he did not open them immediately. He waited, so that by the time he did open them, the unimportant issues mentioned in the letters were no longer relevant. We have confirmed in real life situations that Napoleon was right – the unimportant issues actually resolve themselves. We also discovered that we should focus on prioritization, and consistently keep doing what we have already decided to be the most important.

At the end of the day, when you will have accomplish one small but important objective, you will actually feel more fulfilled than after accomplishing several less important ones.

If you have any doubts as to which of your issues are really important, you can find a helpful and simple method described here that will support the process of discovering priorities.

Small improvements in the long run give big results

When you compare where you end up if you improve by 1% every day for a year instead of doing worse by 1% every day for a year, you will see that even small improvements when made regularly, can lead to significant changes in your life.

How small improvements create benefits over a long period (source: Internet)

By using this approach, small goals can become lifetime habits, and the forming of habits (no matter how small they may seem) is the secret to long term success.

Plan short-term activities and track your progress

Remarkably successful people don’t try to win just one race. They expect and plan to win a number of subsequent races.

Research suggests that the average person who is given two weeks to complete a task will instinctively adjust his effort so it actually takes exactly two weeks.

So, here is how we deal with this problem. We manage our time better by planning our week. We take our tasks and break them down further so the tasks are smaller. Tasks that take less than 1 day are easily measurable and traceable. Then, we regularly check our progress and identify where we are in the long term plan. If we discover at the early stage that we are off the schedule it is a reminder that we need to get back on track. If we see that we are following the plan which we collaboratively assembled, then we are even more motivated and happy that we are actually getting there. Below you can see a short video showing how we do it.

Imagine that each week your team will achieve one small but very important goal. After a year you will have 52 reasons to celebrate success with your team members. If these small victories will be visible and shared with all the team members, or even all the employees of your company, then a positive attitude and the sense of accomplishmentwill significantly increase among them.

Small improvements can have a big impact

Do we really want to be motivated?

We all want to change something to be more effective, but we often fail because we only try 🙂

As we have discovered, people who stick with their goals and don’t give up don’t let their emotions determine their actions. They find a way to get around boredom and to embrace their daily duties that are required to ultimately achieve their goals and eventually succeed. In CayenneApps team we faithfully follow these rules and we encourage you do the same!

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What is CayenneApps?

CayenneApps is a technology startup which creates tools that help people to continuously manage vital improvements in their business and personal lives.

Our product fills the gap in change management. We have created this blog to share our thoughts about what we have learned during our work in a number of IT projects, what the common pitfalls are and how to avoid them.